About our company
A Pioneering Spirit
EarthLinked Technologies, Inc. was established in 1980 under the pioneering spirit of its founder, Robert Cochran, P.E., an electrical engineer. His goal was to develop the simplest, most efficient means of using the solar energy stored in the shallow earth for heating water. The vision was based on the fact that almost one-half of the solar energy that strikes the earth is absorbed by it. That stored energy is a clean, local, renewable source that is free for the harvest.
Bob Cochran was an engineer in the management of an electric utility where he worked with the utility’s attorney, Hal Roberts, for ten years before they founded EarthLinked Technologies. Their entrepreneurial spirit drove the persistence and passion that is essential to the development and commercialization of new innovations in a mature market. Their professional and business ethic held the company and its distribution partners to a high standard that built a reputation of confidence and respect within the clean energy industry.
The passion, creativity and long-term dedication of the entire ETI team have enabled the company to develop significant renewable energy and efficiency innovations and satisfied customers in many countries. Those technologies have been shared and co-developed by a team of talented engineers and technical experts who have extended the inventions into products that are now operating in various applications and climates globally.
After ETI developed the system, techniques, infrastructure and national standards, the EarthLinked® system was born. Then followed 10 electric utility projects in southern and northern climates. ETI then began marketing the system and selling through dealers in the U.S. and around the world.
The system is mechanically simple, innovative and more efficient than other systems because it directly accesses renewable energy stored in the earth. The efficiency and simplicity of the system is based on proprietary technology that combines innovative refrigerant flow controls and copper-based earth loops. The results were astonishing:
- U.S. EPA verified 75% electrical and emissions savings in Commercial Water Heating with the EarthLinked® heat pump.
- Photovoltaic module cooling with ETI’s heat pump circuit to improve power output and deliver recovered heat for commercial water heating.
Today EarthLinked systems are saving energy and the environment in 47 states and 15 countries.
Clean Energy Technology
The quality of life and the future of mankind depend upon clean air, clean water and the preservation of natural resources, including energy. The earth is a closed system, a biosphere. The only resource input into the system is solar energy that reaches the earth daily. We were given only one planet to sustain us. Future generations of our families and yours are dependent upon what we pass on to them. We take that responsibility very seriously.
We recognize that our success at EarthLinked Technologies depends upon advancing cost-effective innovations that deliver high efficiency, high performance and reduce human impact upon the environment. By harvesting renewable solar directly or the energy stored in the shallow earth, ETI is providing solutions to two of the major challenges that face mankind this century—energy and the environment. Reducing fossil fuel firing and the resulting emission of greenhouse gases with the EarthLinked® system reduces the ecological impact of heating and cooling and electrical energy production.
We believe that how we keep our energy efficiency and environmental promises and what we deliver to our customers around the world creates a sustainable difference. There is a beneficial, enduring contest underway to “out-green” our competition and it benefits everyone. Succeeding at that goal is Plan “A”. There is no Plan “B”.
Our Own Space
Our commitment extends beyond the production of Energy Star® products to the design and operation of our manufacturing and office facilities. They were certified by the U.S. Green Building Council’s “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” (LEED) Program. The LEED program is the nationally accepted benchmark in the U.S. for the design, construction and operation of high performance buildings that reduce demand upon natural resources and impact on the environment.
EarthLinked® systems are the single most important feature of the building design to achieve LEED certification points. The facility also includes natural lighting, light pollution avoidance, water efficient landscaping with native plantings, water reclamation and conservation, stringent selection and recycling of construction and interior decoration materials, provision for energy efficient and low emission vehicles, LEED commissioning of the building and provisions for recycling metal and cardboard.
Our Collective Future
Reducing global emissions of greenhouse gases will become increasingly difficult as demand for energy accelerates with improving lifestyles, global population expansion and developing economies. As governments wrestle to address these issues, there is growing recognition that private enterprise must help find solutions to these global problems. We are part of a new era in corporate innovation, where new standards are emerging and greater stakeholder expectations are changing the roles of business and institutions in society.
We recognize that we have a responsibility for stewardship of nature and the environment. Since 1980 ETI has pioneered products designed to deliver a sustainable environment. As a responsible corporate citizen, ETI continues to develop innovations that save energy for homeowners, businesses and institutions, and reduce the impact of heating and cooling upon the environment.